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Aspen chuckled at the TV screen. “God, I love this movie. So much blood and gore. Sadly, no matter how often I try, I can’t get Camden to watch it. And I’ve tried really hard.”
Sitting on the Alpha pair’s sofa beside the bearcat, Blair dived her hand into her bag of popcorn. “He’s not into zombie movies, I take it?”
“No, not even a little. Which I just don’t get. They’re not only ace, they double as training videos.”
Blair blinked. “Training videos?”
“Yeah. For Z-Day. It’ll arrive at some point. I intend to be ready.”
At a loss for words, Blair looked from Havana to Bailey, who both smiled.
“To answer the question that’s got to be floating through your head, yes, she’s totally serious,” said Havana, curled up at the other corner of the sofa.
Huh. Well okay.
Blair chucked popcorn in her mouth, returning her gaze to the TV. The girls had invited her to a “movie afternoon.” Not a movie night, because the Alphas would apparently be busy later.
Wanting to know the girls better, Blair had easily accepted the invite. She would have done so even if she hadn’t gotten the sense that she could really like these women, because it was important for the pride’s inner circle to know each other well and hopefully get along.
As nosy as he was overprotective, Luke had accompanied her but headed onto the back deck, where Tate, Deke, Camden, and Isaiah were then sat drinking beers. Not that Luke had stayed out there. He’d popped his head into the room every fifteen minutes or so, or even crossed to her to drop a kiss on her head and ask if she was fine—like he couldn’t sense for himself through their bond that she was indeed perfectly fine.
As much as she adored him, the constant are you all rights got old fast. So she’d been glad when Tate earlier asked both him and Isaiah to accompany the Alpha while he handled a pride issue that required his personal attention.
Comfortable with the other pride members, Blair had no problem remaining behind. She suspected that Tate had taken Luke because he’d wanted Blair to have uninterrupted quality time with the other females. Or maybe he’d noticed how close she’d been to throwing her popcorn in Luke’s face.
Sinking deeper into the armchair, Bailey said, “If there ever is a zombie apocalypse—”
“If?” echoed Aspen.
“—we’ll hardly need to kill any. They don’t eat animals, right? So we can shift into our animal forms whenever they’re around. Boom.”
Aspen held up a finger. “Okay, first of all, there will be an apocalypse. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Secondly, there’s actually no clear-cut answer as to whether or not animals will be at risk. Different instruction videos show different scenarios.”
“Movies, Aspen,” Havana corrected with a sigh. “They’re movies. Fiction. Forms of entertainment.”
“Educational forms of entertainment,” Aspen insisted.
The Alpha female rolled her eyes.
Blair’s phone chimed. Digging it out of her pocket, she snickered at the funny meme Kiesha sent her by text.
“Is that Luke checking up on you?” asked Havana.
Blair shook her head. “It’s Kiesha. But I don’t doubt that I’ll receive a message from him soon to make sure I’m good, despite that he knows I’m safe here. Just the very idea of me being out of his sight makes him a little edgy.”
“Ordinarily, I’d tease him about it,” said Havana. “But with the way things are right now, I can’t blame him. Tate told me about the latest note you received. The person obsessed with you really isn’t in touch with reality. The stuff he says, the way he says it … It’s more chilling than any threat. And to know the sicko isn’t simply a from-afar-admirer but someone who knows you only makes it worse.”
Aspen nodded. “Your animal must have lost her mind when she realized he’d marked her old territory.”
“Oh, she did,” confirmed Blair. “She still snarls whenever she thinks about it. Like right now.”
“I heard she tore into Finley’s ankle,” said Bailey, a twinkle in her eye.
The memory made Blair’s inner female bare her teeth in a feral grin. “The bitch dismissed her like she was no more than a gerbil. Not sure why Finley thought that would be advisable. The woman really needs to make better life choices. Such as dropping the idea that she can take my status from me.”
“She will drop the fantasy eventually,” began Havana, “she just won’t do it easily.”
“Yeah, I sensed that. It doesn’t help that some of the pride seek out her rather than me regarding matters that should be taken to the Beta female. It reinforces the idea in her head that the position should be hers.” Blair tossed more popcorn into her mouth and chewed a little harder than necessary.
“What you did at the Tavern went a long way to convincing people that you’ll be the Beta female they need,” said Havana. “But some are so loyal to Finley—either because they’re her friends, family, or people who feel indebted to her—that they go to her for assistance rather than you. That won’t last long, though, if for no other reason than that their inner animals will push them to go to you, recognizing you as stronger and more dominant.”
